My passenger side footwell has been filling with water recently. I know this is quite common and seen mentions of rust under the windscreen seal so I thought I would investigate.

 

The plastic scuttle panel needs to come off to get to the lower edge of the seal. This involves removing the wipers first (13mm nut, and wiggle them off the spindle). The scuttle panel itself is held on with three plastic nuts, two obvious ones at each end and one tucked away behind the heater air intake and two push fit clips next to each wiper spindle. then it can be slid out from behind the bonnet hinges. It is still attached to the car by the washer jet tube. You could undo this but there was just enough length on mine to get it out of the way without doing so.

 

Once this was removed the source of the leak became obvious.

 

 

There was a rust blister about the size of a 50p coin which was obviously pushing the seal up and lettting the water in.

 

 

So I scraped the loose rust off with a screwdriver then treated the rusty area with a rust converter. I used Hammerite Kurust but I think there are alternatives.

 

 

I put a screwdriver under the seal either side of the area so I was able to brush the Kurust right up underneath, Then went and had a cup of coffee while it cured. It turns the rust a blue-black colour. Then it's just a case applying a little silicone sealer. It probably only needed it around the affected area but I decided to do the whole lower edge from corner to corner using one of those DIY applicator gun thingys and a tube of clear silicone pushed as far up under the seal as possible.

 

 

As you push the windscreen seal back down some of the silicone will ooze out. You can clean the excess off the screen rubber with thinners or white spirit. Doesn't matter about the metal part or the lower edge of the rubber as that will be under the plastic scuttle panel.

 

I did this two weeks ago and we've had two big storms since and the footwell and fusebox are now bone dry so I think I can say it was a success.

 

 

 

 

of course, the correct and thorough procedure is to remove the windscreen,

deal with rust disaster there

that may need welding, for sure fiberglass filling.

then use good quality silicone

or even better a resin.

put the windscreen back, let it cure

and bob's your uncle.

Thanks yoss, they always rust up there for some reason, I have seen a lot worse than that though,

I need to do the one on my fun bus as well, but I think I might have to weld it up properly.

Thanks dohnjoe, in a perfect world we would do that and if it was repaired properly you wouldn't need any sealer at all. But the car is used everyday and lives outside. Also it wasn't yet that bad, I've caught it early so there was only a blister. As Tom says, they get a lot worse.

I don't know if you're aware of the weather we've been having over here recently. I had a couple of hours to spare one Sunday between the storms. Before I did it we were getting water above the level of the carpet some days, now it is bone dry, so it obviously worked and I thought some people might be interested.

My funs the same there just waiting for this run to go then window out sort rust new rubber and sealer hope this fixs it as mines leaks in the middle and passanger side I see if come in as dash out....